[2018] “Feeding the Trolls: Strategies for Raising the Bar in Online Interaction,” forthcoming in Proceedings of the Southwestern Anthropology Association Conference 2017, April 2018, in San Jose, California.

[2015] “Working to Play and Playing to Work: How YouTube Meet-ups Blur the Boundaries Between Sociality and Self-Promotion,” in Proceedings of the Southwestern Anthropology Association Conference 2013, April 18-20, 2013, in San Jose, California, Volume 7, Pp. 29-33.

[2013] “Emotional Expressions of the Studium and Punctum on YouTube Infant Memorials,” in Selected Papers of Internet Research 14.0, Denver Colorado.

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Dissertation

Virtual Trouble: Negotiating Access in Online CommunitiesThe dissertation combines anthropological theories with micro-analyses of conversation to explore how certain instantiations of tech talk influence access to information, access to conversational rights and privileges, and access to self-expression. The dissertation draws on a broad notion of online “access” that is concerned with opportunities for participation in cultural groups. It analyzes interaction from two online communities to address anthropological and linguistic questions such as: 1) How is the negotiation of identity accomplished through online interactional forms, such as question-and-answer segments and arguments? 2) How are displays of status performed through text-based interaction? 3) How do sequences of interaction impact self expression? In contrast to previous studies that asserted that the supposed “anonymous” nature of computer-based interaction leads to acrimonious interaction, this study asserts that antagonistic argument often stems from participants’ desires to reduce anonymity and establish their membership in imagined communities of technical prestige.

The dissertation proposes a theoretical lens, called performing technical affiliation, to explain certain interactional dynamics in conversations about technology and the development of online, participatory competencies. Performing technical affiliation refers to displaying, in words or actions, associations to certain beliefs, values, goals, or moral ideas about specific technologies and related technical cultures. Performances are negotiable, and shift across and even within conversations. People may display varying degrees of allegiance to ideas according to their goals in particular socio-cultural contexts. Discussing the “evils” of using a certain computer system is an example of performing technical affiliation. Insulting someone for asking a question, rather than consulting a frequently asked questions file, is another example. Such examples provide an analytical window into larger issues such as ideologies of acceptable forms of participation, knowledge acquisition, and mentoring.

Importantly, performances are not always harmful; they are often part of ordinary interaction and their impact is negotiable. Further, the construct of performance is not used to claim that an interaction is only a “show” that masks a truer essence or set of beliefs, but rather to leave open an analytical window that recognizes that people who perform technical affiliation often display varying and sometimes shifting degrees of commitment to particular technologies, technological beliefs, or to cultural ideas associated with technology or technical milieu. These displays may change in intensity or form according to context, such as how a performance is received by one’s interlocutors. The dissertation is concerned with how performances help interlocutors propose and negotiate socially-recognized and sometimes nuanced aspects of the self that pertain to technology and related technical cultures. It contributes to the field of the anthropology of science by analyzing how social performances of the self affect understanding and distribution of technical knowledge, and how cultural and linguistic forms of certain interactions influence the possibilities of personal self-expression.Dissertation Table of Contents Chapter 1: Introduction Chapter 2: Theoretical Framework Chapter 3: The Story of Um Chapter 4: Questions and Answers Chapter 5: Opposition and Arguments Chapter 6: Technical Performance...Interrupted Chapter 7: ConclusionPrint or PDF Copy Available from UMI.